Is There Really An Incurable Strain of Gonorrhea Going Around?!

The other day I read the words “incurable gonorrhea” and kind of freaked out a little bit. I mean, does the world really need another incurable disease, especially a sexually transmitted one? No. No, it doesn’t. But it looks like we got one anyway, because incurable gonorrhea is a thing and it’s happening.

I know this sounds super scary, but before you freak out, it’s important to know exactly what’s going on. This incurable gonorrhea has been a threat to us for a while now, with individual cases popping up in the United Kingdom, Austria, France, Japan and Norway since about a year ago. Up until recently, there were no known cases of this particular strain of the disease in North America, but that changed when researchers found that nine patients in Toronto, Canada seemed to have contracted it.

Gonorrhea is normally treated by the antibiotic Cephalexin, but this new incurable gonorrhea is resistant to the drug. The nine patients in Toronto with the disease were still infected with it even after being treated with Cephalexin. The good news? They were eventually cured when doctors used an injectable form of the antibiotic.

But even though those patients were cured, doctors are still worried that this means this new strain of gonorrhea could become resistant to all forms of the antibiotic. Eek. That doesn’t sound too promising. However, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control are well aware of the problem and are actively searching for new ways to treat this disease.

Still, searching for new disease treatments can take a very long time, and even though no one knows for sure what’s going to happen, I’m going to have to urge you guys to be super careful whenever you’re hooking up with someone. I know you’ve heard this all before, but this is some pretty serious stuff.

For one thing, you should be in the know about what exactly gonorrhea is. It’s the world’s second most common STD and it can be spread through contact with the mouth, vagina, penis or anus. Symptoms in women include vaginal discharge, burning and pain while urinating, increased urination, sore throat, feeling pain during sexual intercourse, pain in the lower abdomen and fever.

For another thing, this is just a reminder to always practice safe sex. Girls – condoms. Wear them. Your chances of getting incurable gonorrhea will decrease a lot if you put those little bad boys on before you do the deed. It’s a good idea to get tested for STD’s after each new sexual partner, and it’s an even better idea to have a sexual partner get tested before you two get it on.

Despite everything I just wrote about how scary this sounds, I’m not trying to freak you guys out here. Just keep this info in the back of your head – and always use a condom. Trust me.

What do you think about this news? Are you worried about incurable gonorrhea? Do you always practice safe sex? Tell us in the comments.